Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:13
On Monday Dave arrived home from work and said that the police had cordoned off a local area of bush. He wondered if they had found a body. I said it was unlikely. The next day we heard that a dead newborn baby had been found there. Nothing was known of the mother or her situation. I had two immediate thoughts.
1) I want to be involved in my local community, and to know people in need! I aim for this through involvement at the community center and greeting people as I walk. This area is a real mix of economic and social backgrounds. I need to keep praying and investing! Who knows if I may be able to make a small difference in the lives of a woman in need of support. The least I can do is meet people, learn their names, and pray for them.
2) We do need to look into fostering babies so that we could welcome a needy baby from a troubled situation into our home. I just wish I could have welcomed this tiny girl and given her the love she needed. Our real heart is to adopt but maybe we should do the only thing we can do in our present time and place?
The verse "Mercy triumphs over judgment" comes to mind because our reaction to human need can be one of these two. Will we judge the mother as worse than ourselves, or will we ask how we can respond with mercy? Sadly, the reaction is often "how could she do that". Mercy looks for ways to alleviate human misery and desperation, rather than condemning others.
On Wednesday, a policeman came to our door asking if we had any information about the abandonment. I was reminded of another recent contact with the police force. A group I am involved with was asked not to hand out fliers next to the abortion clinic. We were told that we had to be on the other side of the road or we were a "nuisance" to the clinic, even though we were not obstructing anyone's entry.
On one hand, the police are scouring our neighbourhood in search of details about the fate of one woman and her baby. On the other hand, we are inhibited from displaying concern about women and their babies who are being led toward abortion, with all of its tragic consequences. There is a widespread devaluing of unborn children in our society, as compared to newborns, and this is reflected in the law and policing. The
SLED test helpfully explains why unborn children are just as valuable as those who have been born.
As we think about our society, it is helpful to remember Titus 3.
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
We are not better than the woman who left her baby abandoned in a plastic bag in a park, or the women who will walk into the abortion clinic this Friday. The difference is simply that we know the undeserved, transforming mercy of God. His mercy should make us merciful.
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